DUNCAN WOOD is the director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center. Prior to this, he was a professor and the director of the International Relations Program at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM) in Mexico City for 17 years. He has been a member of the Mexican National Research System, an editorial advisor to both Reforma and El Universal newspapers, and is a member of the editorial board of Foreign Affairs Latinoamerica. In 2007, he was a non-resident Fulbright Fellow and, between 2007 and 2009, he was technical secretary of the Red Mexicana de Energia, a group of experts in the area of energy policy in Mexico. He has been a Senior Associate with the Simon Chair and the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. His research focuses on Mexican energy policy, including renewable energy, and North American relations. He studied in the UK and Canada, receiving his PhD in political studies from Queen’s University, Canada, and is a recipient of the Canadian Governor General’s Visit Award for contributions to the Mexico-Canada relationship.

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The Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute and Latin American Program and the Institute for Studies and Communication on Migration (Instituto de Estudios y Divulgación sobre Migración, INEDIM) were pleased to host a presentation of the following study: Quo Vadis? Recruitment and Contracting of Migrant Workers and their Access to Social Security: The Dynamics of Temporary Labor Migration Systems in North and Central America. more

“Approving the treaty will create new levels of legal certainty for US and Mexican firms operating in Gulf of Mexico border regions, encouraging them to engage in the risk-taking required to produce oil from deep water,” said Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. more

On March 14, 2013, Duncan Wood, Director of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. The hearing, titled “U.S. Energy Security: Enhancing Partnerships with Mexico and Canada,” included a discussion of the Keystone XL pipeline and the Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement. more

“After 12 years of gridlock, you now have a way of negotiating between the parties that enables legislative progress,” says Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington. “It has become the central negotiating mechanism for Mexican politics today.” more

"This goes way beyond education. It's about sending a signal to other unions in particular that they need to come on board to the government's program," Wood said. "As it has played out, I think it has been a stroke of genius." more

“They are talking seriously about allowing private investment in the oil sector in general, [but] they want the state to retain control. So what that actually means in reality is very tough to work out,” he said. “Because retaining control could be legislative, regulatory; it could be the dominant player. No one is quite sure what that means.” more

Last Saturday’s vote by the PRI party to change its statutes to allow for the application of the value added tax (IVA) to food and medicine, and to allow for increased private participation in the oil sector, significantly improves the prospects for the reform process under Enrique Peña Nieto. This marks an important victory for the reformers within the party, and is a sign that the government now faces minimal internal party divisions that could hold back the reform process. more

The so-called “Pact for Mexico,” along with the PRI’s likely passage of rule changes this weekend, give Pena Nieto the momentum needed to push for sweeping reforms, said Duncan Wood of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. more

Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said that while a great deal of attention has focused on the arrest’s likely impact on education in Mexico, it is only one part of a larger story about the exercise of power. “It’s not just about education,” he said. “It’s about so much more than that.” more

The drug lord known as “El Chapo” has escaped from a maximum security prison for a second time. What are the implications for Mexico’s war on organized crime? Mexico Institute Director Duncan Wood provides an overview.

In the final installment of our recap of the Wilson Center May 2015 Alumni Conference, an expert panel explores the ongoing ways that immigration is transforming America. That’s the focus of this edition of REWIND.

What long term political trends were revealed through the results of Mexico’s recent elections? While the ruling party did maintain control as expected, Mexico Institute Director Duncan Wood says that there were still surprises in the details of the results. And some of those surprises go beyond the unexpected victory of the independent candidate known as “El Bronco.”

A few weeks after the electorate takes to the polls, the government faces another, more demanding examination of its most important achievement thus far: the opening of the nation´s hydrocarbons industry to private and foreign investment, when companies submit bids on the first batch of contracts under Round One. Duncan Wood discusses contract terms in this article with the Financial Times.

Corruption has emerged as a key topic in the 2015 electoral campaigns. In this Expert Take, Duncan Wood and Pedro Valenzuela discuss where the debate regarding corruption is currently and what the parties are proposing in their electoral platforms.

With Presidents Barack Obama and Enrique Peña Nieto meeting today, January 6, 2015, in Washington, DC, Mexico Institute Director Duncan Wood says it is crucial that the United States and Mexico seize the opportunity to reinvigorate their mutual public security agenda.

The key to any nation’s success is finding ways to unleash innovation in pursuit of solving problems. But where does innovation come from and what is necessary for building an environment in which it can flourish? Public and private sector activity in Mexico, designed to answer that question, is the focus of our discussion with Mexico Institute Director, Duncan Wood in this edition of Wilson Center NOW.

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The Mexico Institute is delighted to present a dial-in event in which expert analysts will offer their take on the broader implications of El Chapo's escape on the future of Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico security relationship

The Wilson Center's Mexico Institute was pleased to host an event on Mexico's 2015 midterm elections. On June 7, 2015, more than 86 million Mexicans will have the opportunity to elect 500 federal deputies, 17 state-level legislatures, 9 governors, and more than 300 mayors.

The Wilson Center's Mexico Institute, Border Trade Alliance, and the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos invite you to our second annual high-level "Building a Competitive U.S.-Mexico Border" conference this year, focusing on improving border management in order to strengthen the competitiveness of both the United States and Mexico.

The Mexico Institute hosted Mexico’s Under Secretary of Energy Planning and Transition, Leonardo Beltrán, who will spoke on both Mexico’s energy reform process and the prospects for renewable energy and carbon gas emissions reductions. At the same time, we were proud to launch our new publication “Renewable Energy in Mexico’s Northern Border Region,” which analyzes the current renewable energy situation in the north of the country and potential opportunities to engage in a productive relationship with the private and the public sectors in the United States.

The Mexico Institute is pleased to invite you to learn about the efforts of the Mexican government to improve financial literacy within the Mexican and Hispanic communities in the United States and Canada.

The Mexico Institute hosted an event on U.S.-Mexico relations, security, and human rights, exploring the effects of U.S. policy, and Mexico's struggle against organized crime, on the security situation in the country.

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Opportunities for unconventional or shale oil and gas production in Mexico are in the earliest stages of development. Due to its close proximity to major shale field development in South and West Texas, Mexico is particularly well positioned to take advantage of unconventional extraction techniques. However significant challenges will have to be addressed.

In early March, 2015, a small group of researchers from the Washington-based Wilson Center and from Mexico’s Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas traveled to the southwestern section of the Mexico-Guatemala border to observe developments in migration, various types of illicit trafficking, trade, and border management. In this report, each of the five researchers participating in the visit presents a short reflection based on several of these encounters.

The outlook for North American energy is bright, and the transformation in the regional energy paradigm has been dramatic. However, to achieve the full potential of this newly discovered regional energy wealth, it will be necessary to more fully integrate the three countries' energy markets. This paper argues that, in order to make North American energy independence a reality, there are several main areas that require attention from the three governments, working together, to make the transition to an integrated North American energy system.

How has the global economy changed, and what does it mean for innovation? How should we be thinking about innovation? What conditions are necessary for innovation to thrive? How can we attract greater investment for innovation activities? What types of government policies and regulations can strengthen innovation? How can we better integrate science and technology into practical applications? What are the barriers to innovation, and how can we overcome them? This publication summarizes the main themes of the High-Level Innovation Forum for Policymakers 2013 and highlights some lessons learned. The purpose of this paper is to aid in ongoing dialogue, the next stage of which will take place in Washington, DC in November, 2014 (The publication is available both in English and Spanish).

This study is part of a multiyear effort by the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Justice in Mexico Project at the University of San Diego to analyze the obstacles to and opportunities for improving citizen security in Mexico. The book offers policy options for how to foster robust civic responses to the problems of crime and violence.

At a time when nearly all of the key issues facing North America are being understood and addressed either independently by the United States, Canada and Mexico, or within the dual-bilateral framework of U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada relations, this report attempts to view these challenges and opportunities through a trilateral lens.

Mexico’s renewable energy sector is prosperous and with great potential; however, it is necessary that Mexico sees itself as a country that as an energy future beyond Cantarell, beyond PEMEX, beyond oil. The future of renewable energy in Mexico offers great hope for the country and the region and the time is right for a concerted government, industry and social surge to push forward the development of this sector.

Mexico Institute Director Duncan Wood offered his testimony regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at a hearing before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. In his testimony, he addressed what the goal of the agreement was when it was negotiated, what the potential of the region is today, and what is missing to fully realize the potential of today’s North America.

Duncan Wood and Christopher Wilson submitted a paper to the U.S.-Mexico CEO Dialogue in December 2013, putting forth ideas of priority areas where business leaders can engage with policy makers to take the next major step forward in integration.

The San Diego Agenda came out of the North American Competitiveness and Innovation Conference (NACIC) held in San Diego October 27-29, 2013 where Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast, Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo and U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker met to discuss “three countries, two borders, one economy.”
In this publication, Duncan Wood, Chris Sands and Laura Dawson argue that North American economic integration must be deepened in order to compete more effectively globally.